[sims] Solus3 Unable to download or Deploy any updates

[bobmanuk]

We recently upgraded a schools internet connection and set them up with a Sophos XG firewall.

 

They were using RM SafetyNet.

 

We have removed all mention of a proxy in My Site-> Proxy Settings.

 

Removed it from Internet Explorer Settings

 

and removed it from the Sims Services Manager.

 

Services have been restarted and server has been rebooted.

 

I have entered rules that the Sims server is not subject to any filtering and just for good measure, added ess-solus.co.uk and capitasolus.co.uk to the exceptions and bypass rules.

 

I can take the URL that Solus tries to access and paste it into a browser and the PKG downloads just fine, So I don't suspect that the firewall is to blame.

 

Until recently, asking Solus to check for updates resulted in none available, to now saying 10 updates available. but still cannot download the 7.198.31 update, saying (with a pink bubble at the top) unable to connect to S3dl.ess-solus.co.uk and similarly, If I try to deploy an update I get "A connection Attempt Failed because the connected party did not respond...."

 

Have I missed something?

 

Everything I can see points to Solus3 not being able to access it, but the server seems to be able to just fine.

[JJonas]

There was a new Solus URL

 

http://s3dl.ess-solus.co.uk/

 

You might need to Whitelist this

 

 

Knowledge base article about this change

Edited May 7, 2021 by JJonas

[DJ-1701]

There was a new Solus URL

 

http://s3dl.ess-solus.co.uk/

 

You might need to Whitelist this

 

 

Knowledge base article about this change

 

Yeah, they know, but still not working for them.

[bobmanuk]

There was a new Solus URL

 

http://s3dl.ess-solus.co.uk/

 

You might need to Whitelist this

 

 

Knowledge base article about this change

 

I have already whitelisted the new site, both the site exactly as it is and *.ess-solus.co.uk (IE any subdomain) and as I said, I can take the entire URL that Solus tries to download copy/paste into chrome and it downloads it without issue.

[localzuk]

I would suggest installing Fiddler and get SOLUS to try and download the file and see what it is doing via the log in Fiddler. You may need to allow it to install its own interception stuff as everything is HTTPS these days.

[Boredguy]

If you have removed it from the My Site Proxy Settings and rebooted the server, and the server is able to access the site via the browser (not that we should be using browsers on servers) then as long as the new proxy server details are set with the Solus 3 console (if needed for Sophos) then it should be using it.

[bobmanuk]

I would suggest installing Fiddler and get SOLUS to try and download the file and see what it is doing via the log in Fiddler. You may need to allow it to install its own interception stuff as everything is HTTPS these days.

 

 

Ive never used Fiddler before but I have heard of it.

 

I believe I've turned on HTTPS stuff (it installed its own cert)

 

Ive restarted Solus and told it to check for updates.

 

I see an entry where it checks capitasolus.co.uk (it seems to have gone back to the old site after restarting Solus)

 

But its currently trying to download the Sims update and keeps failing, but not showing anything in the Fiddler App...

[bobmanuk]

Im with you on the browser thing, however... IE is useless and I needed something test with... which in this case, proves that the server is capable of accessing the site and that Sophos is allowing the server through... I'd say that justifies the resources, once I've finished, it'll be removed.

 

Sophos doesn't have a proxy setting, proved by the fact the rest of the system is able to access sites without issue, it seems to me that this is a Solus thing, but I'm not that familiar with it, So I was hoping that there is another setting that I've missed.

[Boredguy]

Nope that should be the only settings... however what you can try doing (though doubt it will make any difference) in the solus 3 admin console, is the toggle switch in the top right corner to turn it on and off... you can try switching S3 off, update the proxy details to something and then clear it again, then turn S3 back on.

 

I sincerely doubt it will make any difference, but you never know.

I assume you've already called your SIMS support company to see if they have the info since thats part of the service you would be paying for?

[bobmanuk]

Nope that should be the only settings... however what you can try doing (though doubt it will make any difference) in the solus 3 admin console, is the toggle switch in the top right corner to turn it on and off... you can try switching S3 off, update the proxy details to something and then clear it again, then turn S3 back on.

 

I sincerely doubt it will make any difference, but you never know.

I assume you've already called your SIMS support company to see if they have the info since thats part of the service you would be paying for?

 

We have, they are still at the stage of telling us that there are new URL's to use and to whitelist them, we have gotten back to them but are still waiting for a response.

 

Right now I'm clutching at straws, so I will try your suggestion and let you know.

[Boredguy]

Other place to look, but not recommended, is to actually update the value directly in the Solus 3 Database (I had to do that to get the damn proxy to work in the first place)

[StevieM]

We had a similar problem yesterday. I'd removed proxy settings in Internet Options and SOLUS but it still wouldn't work.

 

I've just asked our LA SIMS guru what he did to fix it and his response was:

 

I had to elevate a command prompt and type...

netsh winhttp show proxy

It showed me that there was still a system proxy in.

So then I typed...

netsh winhttp reset proxy

It was all good after that.

 

I don't know if that will help you, or not, but it's worth posting.

[bobmanuk]

I saw another post that suggested checking with netsh winhttp show proxy and it definitely says its empty, I tried the command in your quote and it still says that no proxy is set. But thanks for the thought.

 

Ive also been going through the log files as someone else said they could see Solus still trying to use the proxy, But the log files just don't show anything other than they weren't able to access the PKG URL.

 

 

Im tempted to dip into the Solus database to see if I can find anything related to proxys, but ill be honest, I don't really want to. I don't know enough about SQL to fix it if I break it.

[highsky]

You could try this:

Under the Solus GUI config settings add your end user proxy settings.

Edited May 7, 2021 by highsky

[bobmanuk]

You could try this:

Under the Solus GUI config settings add your end user proxy settings.

 

 

We don't need a proxy and there was no proxy set in the Solus3 GUI anyway. I have tried to set then clear the proxy information but it still will not download any updates

[Boredguy]

The last ditch check in the DB can be done, assuming you have the SQL Management Studio installed on your server.

Connect and open the solus3_deployment_server database, and right click on the Solus3.system_config table and select "Select view the top 1000 rows" (but there will only be 1)

 

Scroll along and double check that the proxy_address and proxy_port are set as NULL. I would expect them to be so since your Solus 3 console is showing that none are set, but sometimes there is no harm in checking to make sure

[bobmanuk]

The last ditch check in the DB can be done, assuming you have the SQL Management Studio installed on your server.

Connect and open the solus3_deployment_server database, and right click on the Solus3.system_config table and select "Select view the top 1000 rows" (but there will only be 1)

 

Scroll along and double check that the proxy_address and proxy_port are set as NULL. I would expect them to be so since your Solus 3 console is showing that none are set, but sometimes there is no harm in checking to make sure

 

Thanks for this, I can see the proxy_address is empty, not NULL, port is NULL, domain name, username and password are all empty not NULL.

 

 

I know that sometimes, empty does not necessarily mean NULL, but I'm not sure in this case.

[Boredguy]

Well you can try setting it to NULL via an SQL query

UPDATE solus3_deployment_server.Solus3.system_config
SET proxy_address = NULL WHERE service_guid = 'yourserviceguidvalue'

then try restarting the Solus 3 service

[bobmanuk]

Well you can try setting it to NULL via an SQL query

UPDATE solus3_deployment_server.Solus3.system_config
SET proxy_address = NULL WHERE service_guid = 'yourserviceguidvalue'

then try restarting the Solus 3 service

 

I was really hoping that would have fixed it, Double checked that it is now showing NULL in the database and it is, but it is still refusing to download any of the updates.

 

Ive had the Sims support company log a ticket with ESS anyway, its just neither of them are particularly quick.

 

I'll just have to wait until I hear something back.

 

Thank you so much for your help anyway.

[bobmanuk]

Answer from ESS is to remove the 2 registry keys found: HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections

 

So even though manually turning the proxy off showed that it was empty I guess the system still thought it was set.

 

Updates have now downloaded and deployed.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

[Lardboy]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you

 

Waiting on support to come back to me with this very urgent problem and nothing but removing the registry keys did the trick.

 

Cheers

[cullingsh]

Thanks for this post. I have spent a couple of hours trying to figure out WTH is going on and why one school won't download updates. Logs saying it's trying to use a proxy but SOLUS3, any config files, NETSH, and a scan of the registry for the offending proxy address show nothing.

 

I had to install the new SOLUS 3.12.59.5 instead of being able to deploy the SIMS Spring which has annoyed me tonight as it is, then the new software is looking at some legacy settings key rather than what it's being told to do.

 

Hope this helps someone else in the future!

Thanks again